Nita
Nita Patel (aka "Lucky Girl") is a character in Ship Breaker and the sole survivor of a shipwreck that leads her to meeting Pima and Nailer. Pima tells Nailer to kill her and take the gold rings on her fingers but Nailer doesn't do it.Then, Pima and Nailer work together to try and save her, and succeed. “Nita's full name is Nita Chaudhury, though her father's name is Patel. Once she's ready, she's going to inherit his fortune, which is huge multinational corporation named Patel Global Transit. She's been groomed for the role—she's educated, clever, and worldly—and she has almost nothing in common with Nailer and Pima. If Nita has two major flaws, it's her belief in the authority that her position as heiress lends her, along with her ignorance about what life is like for anyone who's not from the same class as she is. She's not a bad person; in fact, she proves her capabilities and loyalty to Nailer while they're working in Orleans for a couple weeks. But it takes her a while to get to this point. Check out what she says while travelling to Orleans: Nita laughed again. "If you went to school, you'd know about it, too. Orleans city killers are famous. Every dummy knows about them." She stopped short. "I mean…" Nailer wanted to hit her smug face. (16.62-63) Oh, Nita. Nita, Nita, Nita. Of course Nailer never went to school—he's been too busy working as a ship breaker on a grimy rusted tanker just to scrape by, putting himself in danger every day and sometimes going hungry so he can just survive. School, dear Nita, is a luxury he can't afford, and shame on you for thinking that he's dumb because of his lack of opportunity. To Nita's credit, she apologizes. But an apology doesn't just wipe away her utter scorn for anyone from Nailer's economic and social class. By the end of the book, though, Nita has lost her elitist attitude. Here we can see how much she's changed her tune: Nailer had expected Nita's prissy distaste for the slums of Orleans to continue, but she adapted quickly, with a fierce attention to whatever Tool and Nailer taught. She threw herself into work, contributed her share, and didn't complain about what she ate or where she slept. She was still swank, and still did weird swank things, but she also showed a determination to carry her weight that Nailer was forced to respect. (18.3) Nita knows that her position is precarious at best, and she has a survivalist's nature at heart; she's a living example of the old adage, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. When she and Nailer are escaping from the sinking Pole Star, she has to give Nailer a literal and figurative boost: "Crew up, Nailer!" Lucky Girl shouted. "You think I'm going to pull your ass up here like a damn swank?" (24.45) Gone is the chip on her shoulder. They're just two people trying to survive. We hope this egalitarian attitude will serve her well as she takes over the business from her father.”* *Citation: ☀https://www.shmoop.com/ship-breaker/nita-lucky-girl.html Category:Characters Category:Female Characters Category:Characters in Ship Breaker